Hard Knocks
by MickiTheMouse
Summary: Growing up is hard, it's hard and nobody understands. In which people have to grow up and move on to live.  streetstuck, AU
1. Chapter 1

Life isn't a piece of cake, it isn't some sappy story with a happy ending. Hell, there isn't even a half decent middle most of the time. People die, people get lost, people cheat and steal and lie and nobody can change that. But what you can do? You can survive.

There was a loud, sickening crack as fist met bone and the young man slammed into the wall. Copper liquid seeped around his hands and down the front of his neck as he cursed and covered his nose, hunching over. The taller of two cracked his knuckles, pulling back his fist again. The boy against the wall prepared himself for another hit, gritting his teeth and glaring at him in defiance.

"Equius!" A shorter girl literally pounced in front of the taller teen, her small hand catching his fist. "He's done and we're going to be_ late._" She looked up at him with dark green eyes, free hand pushing her blue cat hat farther up her head. "Purrlease?" He looked between her and the opposing boy before dropping his fist and nodding. "Yay!"

She turned, too-long green jacket swishing at her ankles to smile at the dark haired boy against the wall. He scowled back, wiping blood from his face as she waved. They simply stared for a few long moments, his dark brown gaze accompanied with a sneer. She slid backward from the alley, offering him one last smile.

"Next time, Vantas." Equius pushed his broken black shades back in place and turned away from him. "You'll learn your lesson."

"Fuck off, Zahhak." The shorter boy stood to his full height, giving a rude gesture and hissing through his teeth. "Get a haircut before then, even being seen fighting you is embarrassing."

The messy black haired teen waited until he was sure they were gone to lean back against the wall, groaning. He raised a hand to his nose, wincing as soon as his fingers brushed it and scowled. Kanaya was going to fucking kill him for that. He pushed off the wall and carefully crept out the alley, head ducked and hood pulled up to hide his face as he made his way back. He got quite a few looks from passerby-probably from his nonstop cursing and bloodied hands-before he finally kicked open the door to his friend's home.

The relatively short male shut the door hastily behind him and pulled his hood back down as he entered, heading down the immediate set of steps. At the bottom was a tall metal door with a purple ':o) HoNk' painted on it. He pounded his palm against the door irritably, stopping only when the door opened a crack and smoke leaked out.

"Karbro." Gamzee's head poked out, his long black hair pulled into a ponytail and a joint held between his fingers. "Your motherfucking nose." He grinned and practically threw the door open-Karkat would never understand how he managed that-and stepped aside to let his friend in.

When Karkat's eyes finally adjusted to the smoke infested room, he could see Sollux draped across the couch with his laptop set precariously in his lap. His dual colored glasses were slipping off his nose as his fingers tapped along the keys like he was writing an essay due tomorrow. Of course, any of his friends knew he was doing what he usually was; coding.

"Kanaya is going to kill you." Sollux told him without even looking up,lisp dragging over his words. "Third time in just as many weeks, dumbass."

"Just shut your face and help me wash this blood off." Karkat snarled, already having retrieved a wet rag. Gamzee was doing his best to assist as well, offering up some 'wicked elixir'(faygo) and drugs. "Hurry your ass up." Even though he seemed sucked into his computer, the slightly older boy sighed and shut his laptop, snatching away the rag.

The teen with the face paint spoke up first, with a rather reasonable question. "Who the motherfuck was it?"

"Judging by his face," The blue and red eyed boy snickered at the aggravated look on Karkat's face, "and the rest of him, it was Zahhak."

"I swear to God, I will shove that rag straight down your throat Captor."

"Sure you will, KK."


	2. Chapter 2

"Karkat, sit up." the boy hunched further at the disapproving voice, rolling his eyes and wincing when a hand came in contact with his back. As soon as he began to grind out a 'motherfu-', Kanaya stopped him. "Language."

The younger boy only hunched further and let out a string of curses under his breath. The short haired girl stepped around him and toward the door. Karkat sent a mocking look at her back and shrugged on his jacket as he stood, grimacing at the material rested against his bruised back.

"You know," Kanaya reentered the room as she spoke, her jacket on her shoulders as well, picking up the keys off the arm of the couch and passing him on her way to the door. "If you're not careful one of these days you won't be back here." He followed, scuffing his sneakers against the floor as he followed, pulling the door shut behind him. She gave him a long look as they trudged down the stairs, footsteps echoing upward. "You'll end up in the hospital."

The dark haired boy grumbled to himself as she opened the door to the street, and the two began their trek. They were, of course, heading to Vriska and Terezi's weekly poker night. Cars sped by, very few people ever bothering to go the speed limit. The two teens took no notice of that, though, shooting conversation back and forth as was habit.

"Are you serious-"

"Why would I be joking?"

"Please tell me this is just a painfully terrible attempt at sarcasm."

The two continued until they reached a small, run down looking house. They didn't bother knocking, just opening the door and making their way to what was basically a messy dining room.

"Spider-Bitch." Terezi cooed, smile saccharine as she looked through red glasses. "I'll wipe the floor with you this time."

Vriska grinned, brushed her black, bright blue streaked hair out from in front of her eyes, "I have eightfold vision and the best of luck," she pointed a finger at the other girl. "And you're blind."

The blind girl blinked behind her glasses and reached up, yanking her finger back. The taller girl howled and snatched her hand back, growling something about how she had 'an unnatural ability to do shit like that'. Sollux snickered to himself over their dispute, rolling his eyes. Gamzee, on the other hand, was busy trying to inform Tavros of the 'miracles of cards'.

"Hey dumbasses," Karkat seated himself, slumping back and rolling his eyes. "Can we just get started already?"

Kanaya seemed to agree. "Yes, I would enjoy a good game of Poker."

"Karkles!" The brunette grinned at him as Tavros began dealing surprisingly effortlessly. "We were afraid you would miss it."

"Yeah, KK, those injuries slow you down?"

"Fuck all of you."

"Karbro," Gamzee grinned and waved at him with the arm casually slung over the back of Tavros's chair. "You were motherfucking slow today."

He rolled his eyes and dragged out his packet of cigarettes sliding on into his mouth. Upon Vriska holding out a hand, he dropped one in her palm. He held the pack out to his dual colored eyed friend as well as he lit his and tossed the lighter to the girl, but Sollux shook his head. The messy haired teen shrugged in response, pocketing the cancer sticks again.

They placed their bids, throwing money to the center of the table.

"Confident today, aren't you TZ?"

The girl laughed at him, grinning and licking her lips. "I can practically_ taste_ victory."

The tallest of the teens grinned, rubbing at the edge of his face paint on his jaw. "I can taste pie."

"I can taste idiocy." Karkat sneered, watching as Vriska bit her lip for a moment, what he knew to be her tick. "And a hand worse than-"

"Your romantic comedies?" Sollux snickered, raising the bet with a smirk.

"Oh fuck you, Captor-"

"Ladies, ladies!" Vriska raised a tattooed arm, 'tsk'ing. "We're not here for a cat fight, we're here to play cards."

There was still plenty of bickering, though, and plenty of mocking all around. As usual, it was a rather heated, competitive game of card. Of course, Sollux still managed to wipe the floor with them.

"You cheat," Vriska hissed at him, glaring with a fake anger and pointing at him. "How the fuck did you win again?"

"It's called _luck,_ AG." he teased, still smirking.

"Besides," Terezi giggled, "You're the cheater."

"She, uh, she has a point." Tavros stumbled out, smiling nervously. "You, well, you do cheat."

"Oh shut the hell up before this eight ball finds its way down your throat." Vriska snarled, holding up the black ball threateningly. "Then your luck will change."


	3. Chapter 3

_== Be the boy with the shades_

_You almost immediately swap to the boy with the shades, who's sitting on the sidewalk with headphones over his ears and bobbing his head to the music. But wait. This story isn't about you. Why don't you go be the kitkat or the stoner? No? How about the blind girl then or the cat girl?_

_But wait. What's that you see in the alley across from you. The candy bar himself hunched over and stalking out like he'd just been personally insulted._

_This story wasn't about you, but now you're in it._

_== (thanks to all reviewers, watchers, etc. As of yet, there are no solid pairing or such, suggestions are welcome.)  
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"Hey!"

Nope, don't stop walking. He shoved his hands farther in his pockets, too engrossed in his music to notice the girl tailing him. Of course, had he known she was tailing him he would have stopped. Had he known she was blind, he would wonder how she was tailing him. Either way, he was clueless to her whereabouts.

"Cool kid!" That one came from right by his ear and he blinked in surprise, brows furrowing slightly as he came to a rather sudden, complete halt. "F-inally!" the girl laughed, turning to stand in front of him. She swung a cane around her finger, grinning mischievously, too white eyes scrunched up in amusement behind red glasses. "Terezi." she jutted a hand out, grin never faltering. "Terezi Pyrope."

"Dave Strider." he reached out to shake her hand with a raised brow-because how did she know he was far enough away to shake her hand?-and held back a roll of his eyes behind his shades when she started bouncing on her heels impatiently after dropping his hand. "S'up?"

She still didn't say anything, her grin growing wider with giddiness. She stopped bouncing all of a sudden, unseeing eyes bubbling with amusement. "Where doin' it, man." She told him, leaning forward. "Where making this happen."

When it clicked-faster than she'd caught his attention, that was for sure-a smirk quirked the Strider's lips and he let out a quiet chuckle. It explained quite a bit about why she was approaching him, at the least. But-a really good question occurred to him-how did she reach Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff if she was blind? Needless to say, he didn't ask, instead walking forward with her and continuing to hold conversation. He was the quieter of the two, while Terezi kept smiling and talking like there was no time to stop.

"I was a big fan before this," a gesture to her face, specifically her eyes, "I read every page. It's not as fun now, but it's still pretty great..." Dave nodded as they went, shoes scuffing against the concrete and bringing up bits of dirt.

Despite the chatter and how weird it had been at first, it was pretty nice to talk to her. Rose, John, and Jade were great company too but it was just kind of nice to have another friend, to find some random person off the street who would walk up and commence a friendship. (and besides, she painted the side of someones house with him, so of course she was pretty cool)

_== DJ and SHOTS-SHOTS-SHOTS_

"No, Sollux, keep your shitty drink out of my-fuck!"

"Chill out, Karbro-"

"I bet I can ooooooooutdrink you, Pyrope!"

"I doubt it, Serket!"

"Calm down, kk, you're overreact-"

"Sollux, just stop trying to-"

"Maybe it would be best if you all calmed down."

It would've been a complete mindfuck to any onlookers as to how this group could be friends, let alone stand each other enough to go somewhere together. But, once within the confines of their group, it seemed natural. Everyone had a place, like a puzzle, and nobody didn't fit.

The group was leaned against a table, most of them with a drink in hand, bickering like friends and teasing the same. The DJ, off to their right with his equipment, was too preoccupied to take notice of any familiar faces. As well, a certain girl was too busy trying to out-drink her best friend to notice him. Not that they needed to notice each other, considering they would cross paths plenty during the party and probably after.

"Karkles, Karkles, K-ar-kles." The only slightly taller boy sighed and turned his head to look at her with amusement. She leaned closer, on her toes, and smiled at him before letting out a yell of "SHOTS!" and dumping a shot down his throat.

Needless to say, Karkat was trying not to choke on the strong-well, he wasn't sure what it was-and glared at her.

"Yeah, kk. Shots." Sollux grinned at him and Karkat suddenly wanted to pour his entire drink down his throat or mock his lisp to irritate him. He didn't do either, though, rubbing off his mouth and glaring between the two. "Oh lighten up, you're being such a baby."

"I am not." the messy raven haired teen grumbled, snatching a drink from the table.

"Kanaya is our designated sober this time, it was your turn last time." Vriska piped up, smirking. "You have no reason not to drink with us."

Karkat hunched his shoulders further and glared at her, one brow twitching slightly as he scowled. He didn't bother trying to combat her logic, instead taking a long drink to get them to shut up for the moment. Gamzee gave him a rather hard pat on the back and the younger boy winced at the still healing bruises being hit, but didn't complain. The clown dropped a head onto his shoulder and pointed at some girl across the way, commenting on how her dress made her look like one of his pies, before pointing out another girl whose 'hair is the color of mars, bro, motherfuckin' miraculous'.

Back to Dave, he had decided he was definitely in the mood for a drink. Solution? Let Jade take a whirl at the turntables while he snuck off to get one. The world was darker through his shades in the first place, but the dimly lit concrete room did nothing for his ability to see. Sure, he was pretty used to it by then. But throw in a black haired boy wearing a dark shirt and gray pants? Collision sighted.

"Oh holy mother of all fucks!"

"God damnit."

Red eyes meet red and Gamzee's tan hand took Karkat's shoulder to tug him back from the biting glare he was giving the DJ. "Bro-"

"Watch where you're walking you inconsiderate waste of air." The shortest of the three gave a grand gesture with his insult, as he usually did, and crossed his arms. "Can you not see shit through those ridiculous shades?"

"I accidentally ran into you, I didn't barrel you over. Dude, get your panties out of their twist."

"Nothing is in a twist you idiot."

"Man, they're more twisted than the Joker. Not even Batman could analyze that shit. It's a complete bundle of rage and insecurities and more rage."

Kanaya was watching by then, a warning in her gaze. The messy black haired boy didn't notice, though, too intent of glaring and scowling. He'd always been bad with his anger, sure, but he'd never wanted to just jump someone and strangle them on sight before. Maybe it was the shades or the straight face or the fact that he couldn't give a fuck to save his life. Karkat hated it. He hated that he could just stand there with his hands in his pockets and he couldn't tell for the life of him what he was doing behind those glasses. It felt almost invasive, and it bothered him to no end.

"Karkles!"

"Karkles?"

"Oh my God."

"You're practically oozing rage." The only slightly shorter brunette hooked an arm around his neck, one side of her mouth lifting up in a grin. He glared at her, too, gaze catching faintly on the messy red waves of Aradia's hair somewhere behind her as she and Sollux talk. He immediately ran his gaze back to the infuriating blond. "Come on, Karkitty! Calm down before you explode."

"You were right, TZ, he's like a fucking volcano of rage." The strider shifted his weight to the other leg and let his lips lift into a smirk as the shorter boy's expression flickered from confusion and then back to anger.

And then Karkat did the exact opposite of what anyone would have predicted. He tore himself out of Terezi's grasp, picked up his drink, and disappeared into the midst of all the strangers. The first one to move after him was the tallest of them, smoke drifting out of his mouth as he weaved smoothly through the crowd. Everyone else got themselves introduced, brushing off the teen who'd absconded because, well, it was better than him trying to punch Dave. (not that they thought he would while still healing anyway.

_== Karkat: meet and greet_

"Gamzee, get your fucking hands out of my hair."

"Karbro, calm down. The motherfuckin' others will be here soon."

"Which is why I'm leaving-"

"But I have all this wicked elixir."

Groaning, the brown-red eyed teen dropped his head into his hands and let out a muttered string of annoyed curses. Apparently, ditching on meeting Terezi's new friend and his three friends wasn't allowed. Basically, it was going to be a clusterfuck of people in an empty warehouse and Gamzee was supplying the wicked elixir and the weed. Because, hey, when didn't Gamzee have weed?

The two were seated on the ground, Karkat's back against his best friend's chest as he combed his hands through his hair in an attempt to calm him down. It usually worked, but Karkat definitely wasn't in the mood to be anything but a complete and utter ass for the night.

It didn't take long for the rest of them to arrive, Gamzee getting up to grab himself a smoke while everyone did their thing of meeting and greeting. The rather annoyed teen moved to keep himself occupied with a cigarette, taking long drags and doing his best to weave through his friends, trying to avoid the four newcomers he didn't want to interact with. The key words there? He tried to avoid them.

"That's Karkat," Kanaya gestured to the unaware boy from a few feet away, talking to a grinning blue clad boy with a slight overbite and a short haired girl who smiled though much of what she said exuded sarcasm. "He isn't very sociable today-"

"He likes hugs." Dave cut in, leaning against the shorter boy known to be John. Rose-the blond girl-gave him a raised brow. "I bet it'd cheer him up Egbert."

"Um, John, actually-" Another girl frowned at him, pushing circular glasses back up her nose.

"Oh yes, I'm sure your hugs would just thrill him."

Obviously, John didn't catch the complete and utter sarcasm filed away in those words because he bounded over and hugged the other. Karkat froze in horror and mortification, one hand lifted with his cigarette stil between his fingers and the other in his pocket. His mouth was slightly agape and the Strider off to the side could have sworn he was twisting.

"KK," Sollux prodded him and wrenched the other boy away from him, running a hand through light brown hair. "KK, you okay?"

"Karkat, you've been staring at nothing in absolute horror for over a minute." Kanaya cut in, having moved closer to eye him in confused amusement. "It's becoming quite the course for concern."

"Do you think," Rose cut in with a hand to her chin, most of her sarcasm gone, "He's put himself into a trauma induced catatonia?"

"Karkat. Can you hear me? I am growing concerned for your state of well being."

He let out an uncomfortable noise and cringed before flicking his cigarette and pulling it back to his lips. He had flushed slightly, pulling a long drag off the cancer stick and hunching his shoulders. He really did not like being touched. But when you were going to be friends with John Egbert, well, you had to get used to it.


	4. Chapter 4

_== Get this shit over with_

_Your name is Karkat Vantas and you're trying to put on your makeup._

_Now, that doesn't mean you wanted to wear the makeup. Actually, the entire situation is completely against your will. And you know what? Fuck Dave Strider and fuck John Egbert for getting you into this mess. And you know what else? Fuck you for ever going along with this bullshit because you are an idiot._

_==(Davekat has been suggested, as well as other pairings being implied. I will be doing both, suggest whatever else you'd like pairings or otherwise.) Rewind  
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"Rose, could you please pass me the telephone?" A pause, a finger entering a number into a phone. The blonde beside Kanaya could've sworn she'd heard the person on the other end let out what might have been a war whoop. "Good evening to you as well, Vriska."

It was hard to follow what Vriska was saying on the other end, more so than usual. She continued to burst out things along the line of 'You're cheating, Pyrope!' or things along that line during the middle of a sentence before continuing. Honestly, it was more than a little confusing for Kanaya. But the tall, dark haired girl soldiered on through the conversation, determined to get to the point.

"As I was saying-yes, Vriska, of course Terezi is cheating at Mariokart. May I continue now?" A short pause and a lot of muffled yelping on the other end before she gave a light sigh and continued again. "Rose and I are going out tomorrow night; I was wondering if you would like to join us."

From her spot on her couch on the other side of town, Vriska practically jumped into the air with glee as she 'totally annihalated' Terezi in a game of Mariokart. As soon as the other girl declared a rematch the gave Kanaya a 'yeah, yeah, sure' and hung up to continue their marathon of Mario-related games without interruption. By the time that had happened the girl on the other end was considering who else to pull along on their trip out.

Of course, she was unaware of the three boys poking their heads around the corner to watch them-or she didn't care that they were watching.

The first to pipe up when they stopped being nosy was John. "What do you think they're planning?"

"A slumber party." The Strider commented with a shrug, "Who cares?"

"What if they're going out and they're doing something insane without us?"

"John-"

"They could be going skydiving or-"

"Egbert, if you don't shut your idiocy-infested trap, I am going to punch you into next week." Karkat snapped before he could finish, pinching the bridge of his nose in agitation. Despite himself, though, he was curious. Since when did Kanaya plan something without letting him know?

Apparently, his thoughts were evident on his face because the tallest of them snickered to himself and gave him a pat on the head like he was a child. "Feeling left out, Vantas? Does the poor baby not know how to function without his friends around?"

"On second thought, I'll punch you into next week."

While the more aggressive two of the three held a staring contest - read; glaring contest - John tapped his chin thoughtfully before grinning. "You know, guys," he started, leaning back on his heels like a child, "We could always wear disguises and follow them around like in the movies! We could be spies."

"Egbert, that is the overall _best_ idea you've ever had. They definitely won't notice us strutting around in disguises following them around." The other dark haired boy sent him a withering glare, obviously unamused. "They would never know."

"Don't be so sarcastic, dude, it's an amazing idea. Fuck, we could even dress up as chicks."

"You get dumber by the day, Strider."

"Scared, Vantas?"

_== Fast Forward_

"Strider, get your godforsaken hand away from my face-" The shorter reached half behind him to shove the other away, grimacing and trying to apply eyeliner. He wasn't doing such a good job, holding open his eye with one finger and trying to put the charcoal colored makeup with the other hand. "Jesus fuck how do they do this-this stupid fucking stick of bullshit-"

"Vantas." The blond snorted and finished up his makeup with a roll of his eyes, leaning against the counter to raise a brow at the other. "Vantas." When the other boy continued to ignore him, he leaned in right beside him, staring at Karkat with a rather blank expression. "Vantas, you're taking forever."

"Shut your full of shit mouth." was the only return the other offered.

The black-haired male pulled a face and stepped back after he was finished, scowling to himself. Dave had already situated his fake hair on, a long ponytail now off the back of his head and his shades in place perfectly. Karkat took only a moment to drag a hand through his messy hair and then pull on a wig that was just as messy.

"Now, Karkles," The blond started with a smirk, using his best feminine voice. "Find your LBD and get dressed."

"You want me to wear a what." It came out flat and slightly confused, more of a statement than a question. "What in the motherloving fuck is a LBD?"

Dave was already digging through the clothes he'd 'borrowed' and pulling out a little black dress and dark gray tights. In addition to that, he dropped a pair of gray heels on the floor and tossed a jacket at his companion. Neither moved for quite a long time until the taller was removing his clothing in favor of a slinky red shirt and dark-washed skinny jeans. After a moment of hesistation and a snipe from the other, Karkat was agitatedly tugging on the dress.

"I hate you. Karkat snapped at he put on the heels-which he didn't think he could ever walk in-and threw a pair of strappy red heels to the blonde. "This is so fucking idiotic and no one is ever going to think we're actual chicks you dumbass."

"Just enjoy your chance to be a pretty, pretty girl like you've always dreamed."

"If I could walk in these fucking things you would be dead."

_== Make an entrance_

When the first thing you hear upon walking into a club is a whistle, you know you've done a good job. When you're crossdressing and someone whistles and grabs your ass, you begin to question your manliness. Such were the problems of one Dave Strider, who survived the passing grope without puking. When Karkat witnessed it, though, he wasn't sure whether to laugh or be highly disturbed. He settled for something in the middle, snickering and rolling his eyes.

"Hey baby," Wait, amusement gauge down to zero. "Wanna come home with me?"

"FUCK NO." The shorter practically shouted, reared away from the hand on his shoulder with a shudder, face going an odd shade of red. His voice had raised in pitch in his surprise and cracked a bit, only causing him to honor his part time job as a tomato.

"Oh." The man squinted at him like he was stupid and frowned. "You sure, babe?"

"She's-" Dave raised a hand to his mouth to do the 'demure laugh' shit, holding back a snort at the thoroughly put-off friend of his. "She's just shy, try again after she's had a few drinks."

After a nice, relatively hard whack to Dave's shoulder via Karkat's fist, the two were weaving through the crowd. The majority of the first hour was spent pretending to dance or literally hiding in booths and watching their friends. That is, until Dave decided that yes, it did need to be more interesting.

Of course, his idea of more interesting was to dance-Karkat would say grind-with random strangers. The shorter of the two was more uncomfortable doing so, continuing to weave through the people instead. Or shove aforementioned strangers off of him in favor of spying on the girls. As it was, that task turned out to be just as disturbing. Karkat was definitely not keen on watching his sister of sorts make out with Rose, nor was he too pleased to watch Vriska sail from male to male to female. If someone was to ask him, he would say he almost puked because, really, who the fuck wants to watch that.

"Watch where you're goin', you worthless wanker." A slightly british accent toned the words, but he seemed to pronounce his words with two w's instead of one. "Jesus fuckin' Christ."

Purple streak through the middle of somewhat messy black hair, glasses, a scarf-oh hell no, Karkat was not talking to this douchenozzle. He took one step back and glared at him, nevermind the fact that the shorter had run into him in the first place. "Don't tell me to watch where I'm going if you're staring at someone's ass."

The two glared for a long moment until Dave returned, sliding an arm around his friend's shoulders and sending a smirk to the boy he didn't know. Of course, their glares retdirected themselves to the Strider almost immediately. If he hadn't been such a good actor, he probably would've laughed. Instead, he kept a relatively straight face and reached to pat Karkat's cheek.

"Don't mind her, she's easy to annoy."

"And you're easy to get in bed." The raven haired boy snapped, scowling. "You seem like this asshat's type, I'm sure you two would have a fucking great time."

"Eridan!" A cheery voice called before a pair of arms wrapped around him. A girl with long, curly hair grinned at them, obviously not caring about the hostility running through the air. "You won't beli-eve what just happened."

"Oh my god. Dave?"

"Karkat?"

"Did someone say Karkles?"

"Holy shit this is-oh my god-I can't believe you two idiots!"

"Strider, shoot me."

"With pleasure, Vantas."


	5. Chapter 5

_Sometimes, life seems like a box of crayons. Pick and choose, make mistakes, color over the mistakes, put the crayon back, try again._

_But other times, well, there's no going back and fixing anything. Some things are unchangeable, some things will always stay the same. Death, for instance, will never change. When someone dies, they don't get back up. They don't smile, they don't laugh, and all you're left with is memories._

_== Karkat: Survey the damage_

Terezi was crying, glasses dropped to the couch beside her, face buried in her knees, and Strider rubbing smooth circles over her back. Kanaya was with Rose at the table, both frowning and looking exceedingly like a wreck. Actually, everyone looked like a wreck. Karkat, just walked back in with a hat on his head, was the only one who seemed confused. Even Gamzee looked somber, silent and just kind of staring at his hands.

Obviously, something was wrong.

"What's gotten into all of your heads this time?" He scoffed, dropping his hat onto the floor and stepping forward. He tried to brush it off, tried to imagine they'd just watched a sad movie. He knew that wasn't the case. "Kanaya?" A slow glance in his direction, a scribble onto the paper, no response. "What the fuck. Someone answer me."

To his complete lack of surprise, nobody answered. After a long, pained silence, Karkat stepped out of the doorway and made his way to his own room. He wasn't sure he wanted to know at that moment. So he kicked around the mess on his floor, ran a hand through his hair, and prepared himself to go back into the living room and face the others.

_== Karkat: Get interrupted in your self-composure_

"Vantas." Three knocks on the door. The dark haired boy raised a brow at that because nobody he knew ever bothered to knock but Kanaya and Rose. And this voice was anything but female. "Dude open your fucking door." Nope, no way was he doing that. "Karkat if you don't open this door I swear to God, I'll beat the lock off." Not that there was ever a lock on it.

But still, he didn't need his intruder breaking his door but oh look at that the door was already slammed open. Well, fuck him too then.

As it happened, the intruder turned out to be one Dave Strider, walking into his room with a straight face and eyes hidden behind his shades. The shorter of the two took a moment to be surprised and then another to be annoyed when he shut the door just as harshly as he'd opened it. The blond strode into the room swiftly and crossed his arms, and it was almost obvious he was glaring even if Karkat couldn't see it.

"You are going to go out there and hug TZ and tell her it'll be fine, or I'm going to punch you." Cue a moment of awkward silence.

"Calm your idiotic ass down, Strider. I'll be out there in one fucking second."

Being a Strider meant being cool and composed at any time. It meant keeping a straight face no matter the circumstances. They did not have breakdowns or cry or give any visible sign of being bothered. You didn't lose your shades unless you had to, and you didn't let anyone know what you were thinking. A Strider was supposed to be calm, composed, mysterious, unreadable.

_== Dave: Be everything a Strider isn't_

It took not even five seconds for the Strider to shove his companion backward, scowling at him. It was rare to see much other than amusement on his face, so blatant anger immediately caught the other off guard. He shoved him backward again until his back to the wall and he grimaced. And then he leaned down, hand on the wall beside him and his jaw clenched. Being able to see the red through the shades was probably what scared Karkat the most, the visible anger and desperation were just sideline issues.

"Unless you can magically shit out enough money to keep them from pulling the plug on her mom, you need to get your sorry, pathetic ass out there and comfort her." There was a long, tense, moment of glaring and then he opened his mouth to speak again. "You are not just going to stand here like a stupid, gaping fish." He didn't even seem to notice the slight crack to his words or the raise in his voice.

Of course, for anyone who wasn't Dave Strider, it was easily to pick up on. Painfully easy. He had been everything a Strider wasn't in only a few seconds, and he hardly seemed to notice.

It was three thirty six in the afternoon, and the world seemed to crumble beneath their feet.

_== Fast Forward_

"Rose, we can't possibly come up with enough money to keep Terezi's mother in the hospital by the end of the month." A short silence where Kanaya dropped a hand to the table atop the other girl's. "I don't think there's anything we can possibly do for her."

"Well there needs to be something we can do, otherwise I'm not sure what anyone is going to do."

The slightly taller girl gave no reply and rested her chin in her hand and staring down at the paper resting on the table for a long, tense moment. The paper was covered in scribbles, projections of how much money they'd need to make in how much time. And Kanaya was right, it was hopeless.

"Even if I put in aaaaaaaall the money I've saved up for my trip to Mexico, we haven't got enough to keep her long." Vriska mused, flicking a blue and black bang from her eyes and frowning at the paper. Things rarely ever bothered her, but this was something she couldn't have but feel a twinge bad about. "Why the hell are we all so poor."

Obviously, nobody acknowledged that with the 'because most of us are orphans' answer like they usually would. Instead there was simple silence, quiet consideration. And then a loud thump as the door the Terezi and Vriska's run-down abode opened. There was a bit of quiet cursing as someone shuffled down the hallway and then poked a head into the kitchen, mess of black hair looking worse than usual.

"Karkat?"

"Look," he held out a check with a rather large sum of money scrawled onto it, huffing as if he were annoyed. "I managed to save up some money for a while so here."

After scanning the little slip of paper for a long moment, Rose looked up with a raised brow. "Karkat, where did you manage to acquire this much money?"

"Rob a bank, Karcrab?" The spider-obssessed girl couldn't help but crow, grinning. "God, what were you even going to do with this? Stealing my trip to Mexico?"

"Saving up for college." he shrugged, scowling down at her. It was no secret he'd been working a lot, simply to have a change at attending college, but to see him just give it up? "Just take the fucking money, alright."

"No can do, Karbro." The check was snatched none-too-nicely from his hand and ripped down the middle by a blunt-smoking juggalo. With the way Karkat was gaping at him-one eye twitching in an angry surprise-it was a surprise he didn't punch him. "Can't have you all up and wasting your green for that education shit. Nah, I gave those motherfuckers a call this morning."

== Overrated happy endings ahoy

"She's still stable, right?"

"Of course she is, Karkles! Heh, if anything she's gotten better since we visited last."


	6. Chapter 6

_You did not dance._

_You did not dance because, unlike your idiot best friend, you were an adult. Okay, so, maybe it wasn't completely stupid. But you weren't going to go dance in the street like Gamzee or rap like he and Tavros. No. You were going to sit back, watch, wait._

_And silently wish you had the balls to stand up and dance too._

_== Karkat: Hold conversation_

"Ampora, get your legs off of my lap this instant you festering pile of shit."

"But Kar," the brunette whined, simply stretching further and flicking the edge of his scarf. "You make such a good pillow - an' you can't deny it."

"Ampora. One last chance to remove your legs from the vicinity of my lap before I tear them from your-" He was interrupted by Sollux plopping down on his other side, examining them, and then proceeding to drop his legs in his friend's lap as well. "For the almight love of Christ, I'm going to dismember the two of you with a rusty hatchet!"

"Calm down KK, you're being a baby." His lisping friend snorted and reclined enough to relax, dual colored eyes closing. Oh, good for fucking him. "It'th not like we're uthing you as a bed."

"Like _Hell _you're not." The shorter grumbled in his irritation, crossing his arms.

"Ooooh, are we having a dog pile over here?" Terezi bounded over with a grin, cackling in amusement and sweeping the legs of her two friends off Karkat's lap. When he was about to thank her, though, she plopped down in his lap. "Well, well, Karkles! I see why everyone uses you as a pillow now."

_== Gamzee: Beg_

"But, Karbro-" he was interrupted by a piece of popcorn bounding off his forhead. Karkat didn't look away from his romcom, and his stoner friend continued to watch him like a starved dog. "It'll be funner than a motherfucker with a bag of weed at a rave on a-"

"Gamzee," he pinned him with a cold glare. "Why do you insist on asking me when my asnwer is only going to continue to be 'fuck no'? Do you not understand that I don't want to spend my day with your stupid, useless, stoner ass dancing like a girl for no damn reason? That really can't be so hard to comprehend once I've spelt it out for you ten fucking times."

The two sat like that, tense and quiet while the romcom played in front of them. But the tanner only cracked a calm, happy grin and shrugged. He stood, lanky limbs seemingly hanging on his almost too-thin body as he ruffled the other boy's hair and stepped behind the couch to the door. Karkat didn't watch him go, and Gamzee didn't look back. It was one night, he decided, that he wanted to spend on his own.

And Gamzee? Well, Gamzee went into the city and waited. The tall buildings and lights were appealing, he thought. He stepped up onto a few steps and stretched, a few meandering people pausing to eye him as he grinned, waved, a kicked a foot out. He fell down to the next step on one leg and spun, bending his knee so he lowered as he hit the ground and repeating the action once more. He plucked his hat off his head as he stopped, holding it out and tipping forward to hold himself on a hand.

A young woman whistled as his shirt slid to reveal part of his abdomen and he couldn't hold back a laugh, hopping forward on that hand and then dropping into a roll. He popped-literally, pushed against the cement so he popped off the ground-into the air and landed on his feet to slide backward. He moonwalked of a sort for a moment and then held out his hat to the few people watching.

Some dropped money, others didn't, a few absconded from the scene. He stuffed the money in his pocket and continued the show.

_== Karkat: Don't dance_

He's doing exactly that. Not dancing. He drummed his fingers along the side of the couch and rolled his eyes. It was absolutely stupid for Gamzee to run off to dance like a maniac in the streets. The idiot was going to smash his skull-painted face into the cement if he kept it up. That, or, whoever he was intruding on would smash his face into the cement.

Groaning, Karkat ran a hand over his face. What kind of friend was he if he let his best friend possibly get his ass kicked or get himself injured and not be there for it? Well. Fuck. Scowling, the rather short young man stuffed his hands in his pocket and slammed the door shut on his way out.

_== Karkat: Continue not to dance_

There he was, the lovable idiot. Spinning on his back on the sidewalk like it was an actual pay-the-bills skill. Raising a brow, the brunette scoffed and shoved his way through the crowd around him. He stepped in, barely avoiding the broad swing of a foot in his direction by ducking down. Scowling, he glared at his best friend only to find him grinning and bounding on his heels.

"He-y, Karbro! You decided to join me in this motherfucking miracle of a dance jam?"

"No. I'm here to-" he was interrupted by a girl pushing on his back and someone hollering at him to 'shake it like you mean it, kar-kid!'. He felt his brow twitch and he scowled. "No. Fuck you. I'm not dancing."

"Wow, Karitty. I can't say I'm too surprised to see you chickening out." Oh. Fuck. No. Turning just enough to see the arrogant-shut up, they were arrogant-shades of the Strider's was enough for Karkat. "Man, I was hoping to see you hit your head off a rail too."

"I'm not chickening out; this entire thing is just stupid."

"Right, right." He leaned against the rail a bit more and his bro let out something along the lines of a 'snrk' and a silent chuckle. "Whatever you say,_ Karkitty."_

Instead of giving some smart-ass answer in reply, the pale boy shoved his phone into Gamzee's hands and turned on his heel to march toward the steps. He paused at the base and rolled his eyes, reminding himself that this was stupid and pointless. He kicked his feet off the steps anyway, going back onto his hands and spinning, one knee bent as he dropped back down.

He took Gamzee's hats and rolled it from wrist to shoulder, dipping his head forward and letting the hat fall from his opposite shoulder into his hand. Karkat took the bill between his teeth and tossed the hat up, grabbing onto the railing and catching the hat-barely-on his head. He tilted it down slightly and leaned forward to brace both hands on the metal bar, kicked his feet off so that he was on his hands. Twisting his torso around, he let his feet touch the ground and he let go, spinning on his toes.

There was a whistle from the crowd-probably more than that, but he didn't really know or care-when he raised a brow at the younger Strider. And then the hat was plucked off his head. Dave eyed the black and purple with a roll of his eyes behind his shades and then he tucked something in it before stuffing it back on Karkat's head.

"I was wondering when you'd start dancing outside your apartment. It's pitiful to see you flailing around in there."

"I'm taking that as a compliment, asshole."

"Don't get cocky, Vantas."

"Stop being such a cocky prick, Strider."

"If you wanted my prick you just could have-"

"I will maim you with those damnable shades if you finish even half of the rest of that sentence."


	7. Chapter 7

_(a/n; sorry for the late update. internet issues... for like the ten thousandth fucking time i mean for christs sake)  
><em>

_Dave: Think_

_Think? How are you supposed to think? Here you are, staring at the ceiling in your apartment and waiting and thinking is the last thing on your mind. Fuck thinking. Thinking is for doctors with a thousand patients when one comes in with orange skin and some incurable disease-but fuck him, he has other patients that aren't lost causes. So he thinks about that patient anyway even as he treats someone with a rotting fucking bone and jesus dicks he finds the answer to the orange guy's problem. And bam he's a fucking miracle worker genius and everyone lives happily ever after._

_Where were you?_

_Oh yeah, you were waiting for a considerable douche to show up so you can finally confront him._

_Or, try._

_Karkat: Run_

He really wanted to. Fuck, he wanted to. But hell if he could in that situation, with the circumstances, with his own confusion. And oh god was someone opening the door? Oh, no, it was next door. Unsure whether to be relived or frantic, Karkat tugged his head back and nearly screamed his somewhat rage to the skies.

But, wait, let's…

_Bro: Rewind_

And what a rewind it was. Man, watching a movie rewind was weird. But he was being kind and rewinding - of course, he'd put some smuppet action at the end for the next sucker to rent the movie so he didn't want them to get to that too quickly, might as well rewind. The movie sucked anyway, he decided. He'd only watched the pony shit for the irony. Right. All for the irony.

"Bro." Looking up, Bro tipped his hat downward a bit more in a sort of greeting as his little brother came inside, crossing his legs when the little man approached. Man, he could remember when Dave was no higher than his knee. "What're you doing tonight?" Good times, he thought as his brother pushed his shades up. "C'mon, dude, don't be a slow ass."

"Working, dipshit." The blonde gave a slight pause and raised a brow above his shades, smirking. "Why, itching for yet another strife for you to lose?"

"No. I'm having company, so your fat ass can't be lazing about on the couch tonight." Dave scoffed and shoved a hand in his pocket, digging around for something - a pen maybe, or bribe money - before coming to the conclusion it wasn't there. "You leaving me any time today?"

"Ouch." Putting a hand over his heart, the older sighed. "Really, you kill me. That's like a knife through my tender little heart you little shit. I go at ten." But he gave another pause and snorted. He could jump to conclusions as fast as any other person, but if he'd been reading his brother right… "Man little bro, finally getting some action? What lucky lady is venturing to our homely abode tonight? Or is it Egderp? If you're skipping out on sex to play kid's games with him-"

"Calm your tits, it's not John." Before his bro could interject with another question or some way of teasing him, Dave spoke again. "It's no one you need to know about."

But the tips of Dave's ears were slightly red and Bro was almost positive he knew what was going on. So he let his smirk grow wider, picked up the movie, and headed out with that. Later, his little brother would realize he didn't work for another two hours, but he decided maybe he'd heard wrong. (if he was lucky, and of course he wasn't)

_Karkat: Run_

The note left in his hat had said '9:00 karkitty, sloppy makeouts' in his usual red and there was no way he was going without investigating. Of course, the entire thing was just for the irony anyway. Well, he assumed so. And besides, he was going out on a run anyway so why not meet the fuckup at his apartment. (Not that Karkat wanted to go, but hell if he wasn't the slightest bit curious as to what the Strider wanted.)

Feet pounding on the concrete of the sidewalk, the dark haired boy pulled his hoodie up over his head and made a sharp turn down an alley. Frowning merely at the thought of dealing with Strider for yet another moment of his life, the young man slowed to a stop outside a tall apartment building. At least he knew someone would call the cops if they started strangling each other. Ah, the few upsides to living in an apartment building.

Trying to ignore the woman in the lobby, he stepped inside and looked around. It was more money than he could afford, that much he did know. That would explain why the woman was looking at him with such distaste and keeping her purse close to her side. He shot her a glare and she pointed him out to her companion in a series of whispers. At that point, Karkat was completely convinced she thought he was a thief in his spare time - as if he couldn't do better than a pathetic thief.

"Do you _want_ something you cow?" He snarled finally, a couple feet from the elevator. He turned to face her completely, one brow raised and his mouth set in a line. She huffed and he sneered. "It's not a circus, so keep your eyes in your head you overgrown cod." He almost turned away but then paused, looking back at her and reminding himself of Strider for a moment. "And if I was going to steal from someone, it wouldn't be some overweight woman who looks like someone threw up pink all over her and slathered up ugly makeup over her already disgusting appearance."

Feeling as though security would probably be called; the short boy ducked his head and whipped back toward the elevator. He had a session of sloppy makeouts to attend.

Muttering something to himself about 'insufferable idiots', Karkat pounded on the elevator button and stepped inside. Shoving a finger against the button to the top floor, the impatient teen tapped his foot on the floor of the elevator and waited. He was slightly anxious, sure, but he wouldn't admit that. Well, not aloud anyway.

By the time the door to the hall had opened, he'd yanked his hood down. Shuffling his feet along the floor, the young man stopped at the door he was relatively sure belonged to the Striders and scuffed his feet for a moment. He knocked once, twice, thrice, and finally just opened the door for himself. He walked in without a bit of hesitation, shutting the door surprisingly loudly and glancing around.

It was nice - better than the shit he'd dropped to staying in with Gamzee a few times - but not as good as someone else might've expected. The Striders lived in irony, and this was hopefully the bottom of the neverending pit.

He was only mildly surprised to find the younger Strider lounging on the couch. Asleep.

"Oh for the love of all things holy," Whacking Dave's head with a nearby pillow, the boy glared down at him. "Get your lazy ass up you idiotic waste of air. You're the one that decided to invite my sorry ass over here, so get up."

"Sh," The taller teen groaned and waved him off tiredly. "You're the one that decided to be-" he looked to a clock by the tv and frowned, "-five minutes late, dude."

"If you don't get up I'm leaving." Taking that as enough incentive to sit up at least, Dave ran a hand through his hair and re-situated his glasses. The blond watched his companion for a moment, almost looking contemplative even with the shades on. "What?" Karkat scowled at him and crossed his arms.

"Dude," apparently fully awake and seemingly back into his usual expressionless façade, the supposed cool kid pointed to Karkat's hair after a moment. "You're gonna need to re-dye that soon. Shit's starting to fade."

The shorter of the two didn't even hesitate to whip out a string of insults, eyes narrowed down at him and his jaw clenched slightly. "Don't be such an obtuse piece of rotting shit, Strider. I don't know for the life of me what you're suggesting. If I was dying my hair, don't you think it would eventually fade back to its original color? Have you suddenly lost the ability to even formulate half a thought you insufferably idiotic prick?"

The two sat for a moment in a string of silence until Dave sighed. "I don't know Karkitten, but if you're going to keep secrets you should do a better job at hiding them for Christ's sake." Before another round of insults or a question could be fired off, the blond continued. "Keeping hair dye and contacts at your house in the wide open isn't a good way of hiding anything, jackass."

"And keeping your endless cloud of bullshit polluting the air isn't a good way to be less of an asshole."

_Karkat: Fast forward_

Everything after and in between was mostly arguing and a lot of anger and insults, but neither boy was really too surprised by that. Anyway, when weren't they being angry and insulting each other? The only thing that could ever have changed was the circumstances, really. And despite the outcome being relatively the same, the circumstances had changed within the passed minutes. In ten minutes, Karkat was almost completely positive his life had fallen apart.

It was like someone had looked at his carefully assembled life and gone 'Man, what a shitstain on the world this guy is.' and decided to knock everything over and out of place.

"Strider, back the fuck up before I take those damnable shades and shove them in your big mouth and down your throat. I'll practically be gleefully sitting here and watching you choke on your own ego you ass."

"Shut up, Vantas." For a second, Karkat could've sworn he saw his 'enemy's eyes through those shades, but he only figured he was seeing things not a second later. He glanced at the hand against the wall by his head, and at the door he wouldn't be able to reach fast enough. "Dude, you're being an ass. Just tell me what the fuck you're hiding and I'll lay off you faster than a chick lays off a guy with money."

The two stood there while a door creaked open and oh fuck what was he supposed to do. Narrowing his eyes further, the shorter pushed his back to the wall and grimaced. He was, for the moment anyway, stuck between a wall and a hardheaded Strider. The dark haired boy had turned his head to the side, glaring off to try and assess his chances of running.

"If it were any of your business, I would've spared my precious time to tell you, you complete waste of substance." Karkat shoved at his chest and his unwelcome companion was forced to take a step back, crossing his arms and raising a brow. "But it isn't your business and it's going to stay that way until I fucking die and my hair fades and they pry these contacts from my eyes and maggots start eating me."

"I'm making it my business, Vantas. So stop being such a girl about whatever the fuck your problem is and grow a pair." The two stood in silence again and the darker haired bit down on his tongue while he considered. Apparently, Dave didn't have time to spare for his thinking. "What? Born a fucking mutant?" and that, really, was what pushed Karkat over the edge.


	8. Chapter 8

_Karkat: Be a mutant_

_Just thinking about it makes your lip curl, has a mixture of annoyance and anger bubbling upin your throat and practically burning through your chest._

_You're a mutant, a disgusting piece of shit and it's probably why your real parents dropped you at an orphanage for Crabdad to adopt you. You hate yourself for it. You hate your red eyes and your white hair and every single centimeter of your too-pale skin. You hate that you hide it from everyone and you hate yourself so much for never having the guts to tell even Kanaya or Gamzee about it._

_Your name is Karkat Vantas and you hate yourself for it._

_Dave: Listen_

It took less than a second for Karkat to react, nearly punching him in the jaw and coming damn close to knocking his shades off his face. Dave had to flashstep back to avoid the next hit, shoving the shorter away and setting his lips in a straight line. His 'house-guest' was ranting and huffing and glaring and jesus dicks he looked so red in the face that he might ex-fucking-plode. (which would be funny if he wasn't so damn confused)

"You have no fucking idea what it's like to grow up like that and when you turn six you start changing every little aspect about yourself because it got you abandoned you sick fuck - and god help you if anyone remembers that as a kid you had white hair and red eyes because then you've been a complete idiot on top of that anyway. Of course, you're an idiot anyway because in the past you decided this was all a good-fucking-idea. You have absolutely no fucking right to even know this, you insufferable assmuncher."

He paused for a moment to catch his breath, hands balled into fists at his sides as he boiled. "You and your stupid naturally blond hair and your stupid fucking everything and just fuck you."

Karkat seemed to bubble over in his rage, lashing out again and sending a pair of solid black shades clattering to the floor. Cursing, Dave raised a hand to his face and rubbed the bridge of his nose, eyes closed. When he opened his eyes and raised his head, the room went silent. Silent to the point where it was painful as Dave stepped forward and Karkat took one back until he was practically at the wall again - it was becoming a common thing at this point.

Giving him a cocky, somewhat tired and altogether unreadable smirk, the Strider leaned down just enough to meet his height. "Do you think I don't know what it's like to be a mutant?" He scoffed and shook his head, a few blond locks of hair falling from his forehead. "I might not have stark-white hair and all that shit, but don't act like you have it bad _Karkles_. You can explain what's wrong with you."

_Bro: Fuck this, go home_

He'd been off work for probably two hours - Christ it was five in the morning, he had shit to do tomorrow (today?) and he needed to sleep. So, giving up on giving his younger brother any semblance of peace, the man fondly known as Bro Strider said fuck it and decided it best to go home.

Opening the door with one hand and holding a box in the other, the tall man kicked his shoes off and shuffled inside. He was just about to drop his box of metal and materials on the ground and wake up the kid on the couch when he realized something - there were two little shits on his couch. Bro sighed and fixed his hat, setting the box in the kitchen instead and letting them sleep.

Of course, just because he let them sleep didn't mean he'd let them be. For a few reasons, actually. One, the second boy on his couch was the same boy he'd seen dancing the other day. Two, the teens were side by side and the shorter had his head on his brother's shoulder, out cold. They'd probably just passed out like that accidently in the middle of a movie of course, seeing as the tv was still running credits. That didn't mean he wasn't going to completely fuck with his little bro over this, of course. It was like he was handing out blackmail material lately anyway.

Flipping off the tv, Bro made sure to set the dvd case on the table and move a few things around as a way of letting him know he'd seen them. While he was at it, he snickered and brought a blanket out; spreading it across them and placing a 'tender, bro-ly, ironically disgusting cliché' kiss on each of their heads before flashstepping to his room. (He made sure to place Dave's shades on the table for extra affect as well.)

_Dave: Wake your ass up_

Groaning, the blond sat up a bit and listened to his neck crack and jesus, could he have slept in a more uncomfortable position. He blamed short-stuff - which reminded him, where the hell did Vantas scamper off to? Dave groped blindly around for his glasses, nearly causing them to fumble off the edge of the table in his grogginess. Of course, this only confirmed his theory of Bro having noticed his position last night so the shades were the least of his worries.

Deciding that he could deal with Bro later, Dave dug through his pocket and retrieved his phone. One second later he was on Pesterchum and waiting for the everloving wall of ranting grey text.

- turntechGodhead [TG] began pestering carcinoGeneticist [CG] -

TG: so karkles i woke up today and you know what my first thought was  
>TG: i should change my handle to turntechgothead<br>TG: how many people know you were here last night bro? i could probably cause one hell of an uproar with this  
>TG: everyone would be running through the streets<br>TG: oooh mr strider howd you do it  
>TG: how did you ever break that wall of anger was it your charm your shades or better yet those good looks<br>CG: FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, IS IT REALLY COMPLETELY IMPOSSIBLE FOR YOU NOT TO PESTER ME WHILE I'M IN THE MIDDLE OF SOMETHING?  
>CG: ESPECIALLY WHEN I'VE OBVIOUSLY BEEN IGNORING YOU SINCE YOU STARTED THIS RIDICULOUS RANT ABOUT HOW YOU WANT TO TRICK ALL OF OUR IDIOT FRIENDS INTO THINKING YOU GOT HEAD.<br>TG: harsh  
>TG: just a bro over here trying to check in on how another bro is doing after last night<br>TG: i mean you were nearly crying dude  
>CG: CRYING? ***CRYING*** IS NOT EVEN CLOSE TO WHAT I POSSIBLY WOULD HAVE DONE.<br>CG: THE LIST OF THINGS I WOULD HAVE DONE AMOUNTS TO, ONE: KICKING YOUR ASS, TWO: LEAVING YOUR RUSTED BRAIN IN THE DUST, OR THREE: KICKING YOUR ASS. NOT ONCE DID A SINGLE TEAR SO MUCH AS GLANCE MY EYES YOU FUCKUP.  
>TG: fuck and i thought you were harsh before<br>TG: after all the cuddling we did i figured you might warm up to me a bit  
>TG: shit lets be friends<br>CG: DON'T START THAT SAPPY, IDIOTIC BULLSHIT WITH ME. THAT'S MY DEAL YOU LOAD OF FESTERING SHIT.  
>CG: AND WHAT HAPPENED DOESN'T CHANGE A FUCKING THING, FOR THAT MATTER. NOBODY EVER NEEDS TO KNOW ABOUT THAT AND DON'T YOU DARE START SLINGING YOUR ARM AROUND ME AND TENDERLY EMBRACING ME OR CALLING ME YOUR FRIEND.<br>TG: clear as day man  
>TG: best fucking bros it is<p> 


	9. Chapter 9

_Karkat: Get your ass kicked - again_

"What, not enough bite to back up your bark you overgrown cow?" He snarled, tilting his chin up and waiting for the punch to the jaw. Karkat was rewarded with a rather annoyed hit to the stomach instead. "That's all you can do? I bet my grandmother could've hit harder than-" he was cut off with a curse and a groan as he double over, one hand moved to his side. "You sure that's the best you've got?"

"No," The taller, more muscular of the two crossed his arms with a frown. "But I do not desire to do anything more than this, nor am I allowed to do anything less."

Forcing himself to a straighter standing position, the red-eyed boy spit blood onto the concrete. "What's stopping you? Not angry enough to turn green and go Hulk yet?"

"Forgive me, but am I supposed to understand the reference?" Forgive him, but obviously he'd been locked in a box all his life. Really; the big oaf probably enjoyed this.

"Equius," there she was again. The girl with the robotic cat ears and the cat tail - it literally fucking swished and twitched and everything jesus Christ - stepped forward and smiled at him almost apologetically. "I thought I'd furr-ind you here." Karkat fixed her with a sneer and a glare, causing her to look away for a moment before she offered a hand. "Is it pawsible you could not do this anymore?"

The sweaty muscle-ass gave them both a hard look, but something in his voice almost sounded apologetic. "I have my orders."

The minute he was back on his feet, there was a big fist headed for his face. He didn't have time to move, so he raised an arm and tucked his head down to try and avoid receiving a broken nose. The hit didn't come and Karkat lowered his arm, taking a quick glance to find a red and white back in front of him. He could imagine the straight face and the hand stopping a fist from meeting his arm and the shades and the similarly red eyes - it only made things worse, in Karkat's opinion.

"Woah, woah big guy. Don't go going to personal space invasion territory here. Wouldn't want anyone to think you're some kind of creep - not like the kind that beat people in alleys of course."

Time seemed to draw slow and Karkat lashed out immediately, fisting the back of his - friend's?- collar and pulling enough to make him step back and eye him over his shoulder. The red-brown eyes - it was weird to know contacts were behind that, Dave thought - of one Karkat Vantas sent him a scathing glare as a clear sign that he _had _it and he didn't want him to defend him like some knight in shining armor. When Equius drew his fist back and held it poised at his side, the blonde stepped back and sent his kind-of-forced-friend a look. One that clearly read as 'if you don't need my help i don't need a brain'.

"I see you've acquired some new backup since the last time I saw you." The largest of them commented offhandedly. He reached up to straighten his practically demolished glasses, sighed. "I don't think I have enough time to continue this ludicrously silly situation. Remember to hold up your end of the deal, Vantas." He glanced at his short friend and turned slightly. "Nepeta."

She made a face at him and he raised a brow, a thin sheen of sweat on him. The girl looked between them for a moment and gave a kind of silently frustrated smile and turned, tail wrapping back and forth as she practically pounced on the taller's back. Karkat swore her tail waved them goodbye as they rounded the corner. Dave swore he could only associate with idiots.

"So, Karkitten, what's your end of the deal?"

"None of your business you tool. I've got better things to do-" he made a gesture to himself vaguely and straightened with a cringe. "Like put something on this shit and find Gamzee. The stupid fucking clown probably made his way to the warehouse by now."

"Alright, I'll go down alternate route road and ask a different question." Dave decided as they left the alley, headed for what he was pretty sure was Terezi and Vriska's homely abode. "Why'd you make any kind of deal with someone that creepy and fucking ridiculously big? I swear, he's like Bigfoot revealed."

Karkat rolled his eyes and only kept walking, shaking his head for a moment. "I didn't make a deal with that sweaty oaf." He grumbled, scowling as he bodily forced the front door to open. "And like I said, it never was, is now, or ever will be your business or your problem."

"So you plan on just getting your ass kicked."

"Yeah, Strider, I don't have much of a choice."

_?: Make a surprise visit _

The sun shone brighter than it had ever seemed to before, but maybe that was just the fact that it was such a good day so early in the morning. The girl twisted on her toes to look around excitedly, the rather abandoned area practically gleaming with - well, with her optimism if anything. The petite, almost child-like, young woman turned her head to look at her friend and then grinned, leading him down the street. Ah, the smell of dust in the morning was such a blessing.

"Nepeta," She turned to see her much larger companion looking around nervously, frowning and scratching the back of his head. "I do not think we should be here. One of those fools - excluding the obvious of course - could get the wrong idea. They've done worse much easier."

She snorted and shook her head, pushing the metal door to the old warehouse open with surprising ease and peering inside. "I think it's purr-fectly fine, Equius." She moved inside without actually giving any thought to the surroundings and found herself face-to-face with a tall, lanky, sharp-boned boy a bit older than herself. He blinked and tapped his hands along his thigh, head tilting to the side. "You must be Gamzee, right? I guessed be-claws you look fur-tastically like the pictures!"

He tilted his head back to look at her and grinned, lips dragging upward slowly. "What's up little sister?"

"I was looking for Karkat but I guess he's not fur-round." she explained happily, bouncing on her heels in the oddest way. "He'll be back, rrright?" She rolled the r's in a sense of purring and in his amusement, Gamzee's lips went farther upward.

"That chill motherfucker up and went to grab me some-" he paused, thought of how to phrase it, and then snapped his fingers. "Supplies. My damn best bro was cool enough to up and use part of his daylight time to get me my motherfuckin' supplies." He dragged over some words airily, voice sounding a bit rougher than its usual pitch.

Both of the newer arrivals caught the meaning in an instant, though only Equius seemed to be at all put off by that. He'd heard stories about the rich kid when he went without his 'supplies' for long. He got mad fast, he got mad over the weirdest things - one time, he broke a kid's arm for insulting Karkat, another time he nearly stabbed a man in the neck - even if it was all bullshit, the stronger didn't want to risk it. Especially not with Nepeta around.

"What's all up and wrong with your mood, brother? You're lookin' a little…" he searched for the word and then his grin lifted again. "Down - scared, brother. Nothin' to be scared of but the mirthful messiahs here." There was a weird tilt to his smile, the sharp canines revealed in a disturbing manner. "Nothin' at all."

"Nothing is wrong at all, sir."

"Aw man, no. Don't give me a 'sir' the name's Gamzee, brother. Feel free to use it." Equius wouldn't - obviously - but he nodded anyway.

"I'm Nepeta." Sticking a hand out, the green eyed girl sent him a kind smile. "And that's Equius." He gave a curt nod and watched suspiciously as Gamzee returned her handshake. He wasn't comfortable with it at all - he hadn't ever been comfortable with the idea of her meeting him in the first place.

The three ended up sitting on the cold concrete. One lounged back against a support, another sat with his legs crossed, and the last sat on her knees. Nepeta carried most of the conversation, Gamzee gave his input often, and Equius made little attempt to so much as mutter. The topics of conversation differed often, one minute focused on Nepeta's mechanical tail and ears, on Equius' handiwork, and the next moment talking about puppets.

Often, though, the stoner went back to the topic of them. He was curious like a child, asking a lot of questions and looking like he wasn't listening. After a while, though, it became obvious he thought about his questions. He thought them out while the others were being answered, and seemed to be gathering information. The thought alone made a chill threaten to roam Equius' spine and he frowned in worry and suspicion. Especially when he brought out an 'old discovery' and they ended up standing.

"So where'd you two motherfucks come from? What gave birth to you two marvelous motherfuckers?" he asked finally, playing with an old, spotted club he'd found an hour ago (what he referred to as an 'old discovery', despite it being recent). "Gotta know what's up in my brother's and sister's lives."

Nepeta spoke first, lips dropped into a straight line and her big eyes more serious than they'd been the entire day. The world seemed to dim around her and she rubbed at her wrists to find her weapons firmly in place. "Well, we purr-actically come from everywhere. Like wanderrrrers! We grew up all the way in Conneticat."

"Really," He leaned his chin into his hand, grin seeming to stretch by the second. "Is'sat so?"

"Yes." Equius gave a look around the room to see a bow and arrow abandoned in a box in a corner, collecting dust like an old picture.

"Then I must be thinkin' of the right boy 'ol boys." Gamzee scratched his head like he was thinking, relaxed gaze floating to the ceiling as he turned his back to them. "From O'Conner's side of the city. Man, it's been a while since that glorious motherfuckin' miracle worker and I had a talk. You know," his words dripped a sweet honey niceness and he drawled over the words. "I was thinkin' about visiting him sometime this week - old time's motherfuckin' sake, right?"

"My apologies, but I don't think you have the right people." The straight haired young man said after a short pause. "I wouldn't associate with someone so cool-blooded ."

"Really my brother." Purple-ish eyes drifted from the ceiling to the club held in his hand and he let out a chuckle. It was mirthless, a lot colder than his normal laughter. "You're not the motherfucking cuttin', beatin' duo I've all up and heard about lately?" He sounded disappointed, turning his head and tilting his chin up to grin at them all the same. "What a moth-er-fuckin' shame."

He swung his entire body around, led by his weapon-wielding arm. The colorful club collided with Equius' side and arm and he grunted, ramming himself forward and knocking the taller boy back with his strength. Nepeta stood just off to the side, eyes wide as she watched. Equius didn't even put up a fight - O'Conner would have his head if he hurt the stoner - letting himself get knocked back and bruised by the surprisingly strong, thin young man. His back hit the floor and he grabbed something from a nearby box, holding it up and revealing it to be a bow. The club and bow collided, snapping the wood at the center and sending splinters flying.

He was going to die - Nepeta knew it, Gamzee knew it, Equius conceded to it. Acting on instinct, Nepeta stretched her thumbs and hit the button on the middle of her palms with her thumbs. Long, metal knives slid from the metal wrapped around her wrist, once hidden behind her overly-sized coat. The three knives almost seemed to be protruding from the spaces between her fingers, in an odd way. She ran forward and stepped up onto a sealed crate, leaping and going to bring a claw down on the stoner's neck.

He turned just in time, the tips of her 'claws' digging into the skin of his face. He held her wrist with one long fingered hand. Time seemed to slow down as he dragged her hand to the side, leaving three long, bleeding marks down his face. The time flipped itself back onto normal standards and Gamzee twisted her arm, a crack coming from what might've been bone, and she hit the ground. She barely maintained a crouch there - and then he swung his club and she was slammed backward into the wall.

Equius made a move toward the girl and hit his knees hard when the club was pitched at him. "Kneel!" There was a second where he considered letting it hit him before instinct kicked in and a hand reached up to grasp the weapon. He held it in his hands for a moment and then looked back to the girl.

"Such a shame you're motherfuckin' liars." The long haired boy mused, watching the blood slide down her face before he turned back to Equius. The club fell to the floor with a hollow noise, blood splattered on the cold surface catching the light. "Let's see if your blood runs red for the motherfuckin' mirthful messiahs." The muscled boy lunged for the nearby bow, a thousand different endings to the same situation flashing in his eyes.

Gamzee moved fast, feet hitting the ground hard as he darted forward and bent slightly to snatch the bow into his hands. The two stared at each other, one kneeling and the other grinning so large it seemed as though his maw would crack. The clown looking boy moved slow, rotating the bow so the string caught around the other's neck.

The string wrapped around his neck twice and Gamzee grasped both broken ends of the bow and arrow tighter, breathing out through his nose in what could only be described as pure satisfaction. A short paused seemed to stretch into hours before he moved again, pulling and putting a foot on his chest to keep him from falling forward. "Why yes it does."


	10. Chapter 10

_Gamzee: Breathe._

The air felt crisp and cool against his lungs, refreshing when it wasn't clogged with smoke. He watched as the only slightly shorter, stronger boy held onto the string, giving a sad, defeated smile. Blood slid between his fingers and practically echoed when it hit the floor. Nepeta was dead, he was done.

The messy haired of the two pulled harder on the cracked wood and grinned wider, unable to stop himself from feeling accomplished. The motherfucking messiahs would praise him for it - give him some reward for being so loyal to his best fucking friend. They'd been hurting Karkat; they deserved it - _they DESERVED it_ he told himself.

And if they didn't deserve it, well, fuck, they had to deserve it. There was no way they didn't deserve it. They had hurt Karkat, they had been fucking with both of them for O'Conner. Motherfuckers hadn't even had the kindness to tell him O'Connor was keepin' an eye on him. Eavesdropping and all that.

Rude. Rude as any poor fucker could ever be if you asked him.

"Gamzee…" Turning his head to the side, the aforementioned troll let his smile loosen into a more relaxed grin as he looked to the light breathing into the room. The door was opened just enough for someone to slip in and he couldn't help but look his Karbro over. He had a bag chucked over his shoulder - the weed, his miracle drug - and beside him was someone Gamzee had no desire to see right then. "You - what the fuck are you doing you idiotic, miserable stoner, you useless fucking clown?"

"Doing you a favor, Karbro. They were causin' you trouble - can't have my main bro all up and piled in motherfucking trouble."

There was hardly even a second of silence. And then Karkat sputtered something angrily and tried to swipe the blond away from him for a moment, toward the girl on the ground. He didn't move. The shorter boy took a few deep breaths and tried to calm himself down unsuccessfully. And then he decided to stick to grandeur gestures and shouting as he had originally found himself compelled to when he walked in.

"It was _my_ problem you shitstain on the Earth! Jesus fucking Christ-"he cut off there and looked at the girl bleeding on the floor, looked at the blue-faced oaf with the string around his neck. He ignored the fear crawling over him, tried to push away the sting gnawing at his eyes. "Drop the fucking bow, Gamzee."

He complied immediately, letting the wood fall from his hands and then slowly putting his foot to the ground. The splintered wood and his defeated opponent collapsed in silence. The only three conscious stood there and then Karkat stepped forward slowly, dropping the bag of weed to the floor and licking his lips. The third of them - Dave, of course - looked around and gave a low whistle. He'd heard the stories about the clown without his fix and in a bad mood, but he'd always called bullshit. Man, suddenly he didn't want the clown hating him so much.

"Wow dude, you made a pretty big mess." was the first thing anyone said after the release of Equius' neck. Dave, being the one who had spouted it, received a cold glare from the usually mirthful idiot. He decided he needed to stop spouting the wrong thing at the right time. "Holy shit, what are you even going to_ do_ with these guys? Like, you can't smoke that shit away."

"Not your motherfuckin' problem." Gamzee practically snarled.

"Shit." Karkat groaned and crouched beside the bloodied girl on the ground. He clenched his eyes shut as if it would make it go away. He was only meant to buy weed from O'Conner and keep Gamzee under control so they could be on good terms and he'd failed. "Shit shit shit I'm dead. And if that bastard O'Conner doesn't kill me, you probably will so I'm fucked anyway."

After a moment of just kind of leaning back on his heels and grinning like he'd seen the funniest thing, Gamzee leaned down and put a hand on his shoulder, using the free hand to pap Karkat's cheek like he would a dog. The taller made a noise much like someone going 'shh' but with a 'o' in it. Like a shoosh, if that was even a thing. Keeping an eye on them, Dave took a moment to step around and prod the larger of the two on the floor, making a face. He was out like a light, if not dead.

"Shoosh, Karbro." Gamzee kept papping his face while his best friend dug through his pocket in search of his phone, finally yanking the electronic out and giving his near-purple eyed friend a harsh look. "Calm the motherfuck down - put your chill on and just sit." He plucked the phone from his friend and kept papping him, ignoring the heat-distorting glare he was receiving. "It's just a motherfuckin' gr-and day, so keep your calm on and put your panic train in reverse."

"Grand? Grand?" Karkat practically growled, looking about ready to blow his top. "You stupid sack of bones, wake up your miniature brain and realize that you just fucking killed two people!"

Dave rolled his eyes and carefully unwrapped the string from the unconscious boy on the floor. "Shit's grand as hell, obviously. Dead bodies are the new black."

Another rather cold glare was sent the blonde's way and the stoner frowned. "S'not your motherfuckin' problem." Gamzee said finally, papping Karkat with one hand and setting the phone on the ground. His fingers twitched toward the club abandoned to the floor by a puddle of ever-growing blood. "I'll take care of everything, Karbro. Everything is as _gr-and_ as my miracle elixir."

"No it isn't! Does your corroded brain not understand the issues we have here? It's all of our problems because we're sitting in a room with dead bodies - oh my fucking God we've had enough problems with the police, do you know what they'd do if we get caught like this?" Quickly going from pissed to worried, Karkat groaned. "Not even your useless slum of a father would be able to help us then."

The three sat there for a good five minutes while Karkat snatched his phone up and sent a flurry of probably full capital texts. Of course, Gamzee continued to pap him like it would do some good and Dave stepped away to try and call one Rose Lalonde. Time passed like an age, slow and almost painfully. It seemed like hours later that the door to the warehouse slid open again and shed a little light into the quickly darkening building.

For two people, the story ended. Then again, only the cover of the book had been opened.

_?: Let the world drop drop drop drop_

It was dark, almost pitch black. The only light seemed to be seeping through a thick curtain of muddling jade green. Blearily, the figure on the bed saw some other figure - a girl, by the looks of her - step into their line of site. She was gone in only a moment and a cool, wet cloth was set on their forehead. The woman seemed to notice the cracked-open eyes and the slowly waking teen on the bed.

Dabbing the wet cloth on her head a few more times, the young woman smiled in a kind but cold way. As if she didn't like helping them, in a way. "Hello, Miss Leijon." she laid the cloth on the sidetable and sighed lightly. "I have to apologize for Gamzee's actions," she let her smile drop a centimeter. "But I can't guarantee I'll be much kinder."

Across from the small girl bandaged up on the bed was another bed, and on this bed a larger figure laid still. The light green eyed girl watched that figure in silence for the longest time, trying to ignore the wretched feeling twisting her gut. Her mouth opened in an attempt to talk but her tongue felt thick and she made a noise similar to a whine instead. With her short hair twisted and tangled around her head and the panic set in her eyes, she looked like the exact opposite of an angel.

"My name is Kanaya." The woman followed the younger girl's gaze and let her smile grow more understanding. "He's fine, simply unconscious for the moment. Though if he takes as long as you heal, he should be awake by tomorrow. And then we can solve the problem of O'Conner."

_((This was written an age ago; as well as the rest of Hard Knocks. Sadly, I wish I had more written for this. I've gotten caught up in what feels like a thousand other writing projects - a novel, for one, multiple Homestuck fics, and a. lot. of. Davekat. This WILL keep going, though, and I plan on trying to update more regularly now. Apologies for how shitty everything is SIGH.))  
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